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This paper gives a review of the finite element techniques (FE) applied in the area of material processing. The latest trends in metal forming, non‐metal forming, powder metallurgy and composite material processing are briefly discussed. The range of applications of finite elements on these subjects is extremely wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore the aim of the paper is to give FE researchers/users only an encyclopaedic view of the different possibilities that exist today in the various fields mentioned above. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on finite element applications in material processing for 1994‐1996, where 1,370 references are listed. This bibliography is an updating of the paper written by Brannberg and Mackerle which has been published in Engineering Computations, Vol. 11 No. 5, 1994, pp. 413‐55.

In this paper, a strategy for analyzing a problem of the transient thermal coupling with the elastoplastic finite deformation is presented. A general constitutive equation is deduced by assuming the material properties to be temperature‐dependent. The thermal and mechanical coupling problem is solved with a staggered algorithm, which partitions the coupled problem into an elasto‐plastic problem at the known temperature field and a pure heat transfer problem at the fixed configuration. In this procedure, the elasto‐plastic mechanical analysis is based on the static‐explicit solution algorithm, which applies the finite deformation theory to describe the nonlinear behavior of the deformation body and its contact interaction with the tools during the forming process induced by the ordinary external loading and the “thermal loading”. In addition, both the ordinary heat transfer boundary conditions and the mechanical terms are taken into account in the implicit finite element analysis of the heat transfer. A special method based on the R‐minimum strategy is presented to solve the interaction problem between the static‐explicit mechanical analysis and the implicit thermal analysis. Furthermore, as examples, the analyses of sheet warm forming processes are demonstrated.

An algorithm for domain partitioning with iterative load balancing is presented. A recursive graph labeling scheme is used to distribute elements among subdomains at each iteration. Both graph distance information and information about neighbor vertices are employed during the labeling process. Element quantities for balanced subdomains are predicted, solving the algebraic load balancing problem after each iteration. The same graph labeling scheme with slight modifications is applied to node renumbering inside subdomains. The proposed algorithm is especially suitable for load balancing when a direct method is used for subdomain condensation and the evaluation of cost function is time consuming. Several examples of optimized partitioning of irregular and regular meshes show that load balancing can be achieved with one to three iterations.

Sheet metal forming is a process of shaping thin sheets of metal by applying pressure through male or female dies or both. In most of used sheet‐formating processes the metal is subjected to primarily tensile or compressive stresses or both. During the last three decades considerable advances have been made in the applications of numerical techniques, especially the finite element methods, to analyze physical phenomena in the field of structural, solid and fluid mechanics as well as to simulate various processes in engineering. These methods are useful because one can use them to find out facts or study the processes in a way that no other tool can accomplish. Finite element methods applied to sheet metal forming are the subjects of this paper. The reason for writing this bibliography is to save time for readers looking for information dealing with sheet metal forming, not having an access to large databases or willingness to spend own time with uncertain information retrieval. This paper is organized into two parts. In the first one, each topic is handled and current trends in the application of finite element techniques are briefly mentioned. The second part, an Appendix, lists papers published in the open literature. More than 900 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with subjects that were published in 1995‐2003 are listed.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new four-node membrane element model with bending modification based on the equilibrium principle of element nodal internal forces and bending moments for the application of the one-step algorithm for bus rollover collision. And it can be concluded whether the proposed four-node membrane element model has practical value in engineering application or not.

Based on the equilibrium principle of element nodal internal forces and bending moments, the paper puts forward a four-node membrane element model with bending modification. A case study on the rollover of a typical bus body section is carried out by using the one-step algorithm for bus rollover collision to verify the effectiveness of the proposed element model.

For the simulation of bus rollover collision, the computational accuracy can be guaranteed, meanwhile, the calculated amount is much smaller than the shell element, and computational efficiency is improved significantly.

The proposed four-node membrane element model is used for the simulation of bus rollover collision for the first time. It holds the advantage of high computational efficiency of membrane element, and the computational accuracy is improved as well. In conclusion, it has some practical value in engineering application.

The purpose of this paper is to provide industrial, education and academic users of computer programs a basic overview of finite elements in metal forming that will enable them to recognize the pitfalls of the existing formulations, identify the possible sources of errors and understand the routes for validating their numerical results.

The methodology draws from the fundamentals of the finite elements, plasticity and material science to aspects of computer implementation, modelling, accuracy, reliability and validation. The approach is illustrated and enriched with selected examples obtained from research and industrial metal forming applications.

The presentation is a step towards diminishing the gap being formed between developers of the finite element computer programs and the users having the know‐how on the metal forming technology. It is shown that there are easy and efficient ways of refreshing and upgrading the knowledge and skills of the users without resorting to complicated theoretical and numerical topics that go beyond their knowledge and most often are lectured out of metal forming context.

The overall content of the paper is enhancement of previous work in the field of sheet and bulk metal forming, and from experience in lecturing these topics to students in graduate and post‐graduate courses and to specialists of metal forming from industry.

This paper gives a review of the finite element techniques (FE) applied in the area of material processing. The latest trends in metal forming, non‐metal forming and powder metallurgy are briefly discussed. The range of applications of finite elements on the subjects is extremely wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore the aim of the paper is to give FE users only an encyclopaedic view of the different possibilities that exist today in the various fields mentioned above. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on finite element applications in material processing for the last five years, and more than 1100 references are listed.

The purpose of this paper is to propose two linear solid-shell finite elements, a six-node prismatic element denoted SHB6-EXP and an eight-node hexahedral element denoted SHB8PS-EXP, for the three-dimensional modeling of thin structures in the context of explicit dynamic analysis.

These two linear solid-shell elements are formulated based on a purely three-dimensional (3D) approach, with displacements as the only degrees of freedom. To prevent various locking phenomena, a reduced-integration scheme is used along with the assumed-strain method. The resulting formulations are computationally efficient, as only a single layer of elements with an arbitrary number of through-thickness integration points is required to model 3D thin structures.

Via the VUEL user-element subroutines, the performance of these elements is assessed through a set of selective and representative dynamic elastoplastic benchmark tests, impact-type problems and deep drawing processes involving complex non-linear loading paths, anisotropic plasticity and double-sided contact. The obtained numerical results demonstrate good performance of the SHB-EXP elements in the modeling of 3D thin structures, with only a single element layer and few integration points in the thickness direction.

The extension of the SHB-EXP solid-shell formulations to large-strain anisotropic plasticity enlarges their application range to a wide variety of dynamic elastoplastic problems and sheet metal forming simulations. All simulation results reveal that the numerical strategy adopted in this paper can efficiently prevent the various locking phenomena that commonly occur in the 3D modeling of thin structural problems.

An efficient algorithm to estimate the large elasto‐plastic strains encountered in thin sheet metal forming parts has been continuously developed by the authors since 1987. The algorithm is based on a finite element discretization of the known final shape. In this paper a new simple triangular shell element with constant membrane and bending strains is presented using discrete Kirchhoff constraints. The expressions of the internal force vector and logarithmic strains through the thickness are derived. Two applications are considered to discuss the validity and efficiency of the numerical procedure.

This paper gives a bibliographical review of the finite element and boundary element parallel processing techniques from the theoretical and application points of view. Topics include: theory – domain decomposition/partitioning, load balancing, parallel solvers/algorithms, parallel mesh generation, adaptive methods, and visualization/graphics; applications – structural mechanics problems, dynamic problems, material/geometrical non‐linear problems, contact problems, fracture mechanics, field problems, coupled problems, sensitivity and optimization, and other problems; hardware and software environments – hardware environments, programming techniques, and software development and presentations. The bibliography at the end of this paper contains 850 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with presented subjects that were published between 1996 and 2002.